Angela Brown on Surpassing Her Vision
“Opera took to me, I didn’t take to it” remarked acclaimed soprano Angela Brown during an animated and warm talk with Baruch students. The current star of Metropolitan Opera’s Aida, Ms. Brown recounted her humble beginnings at Oakwood College, a religious and historically black institution in her hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. Having shown no signs of initial interest, she had studied opera music to fulfill college requirements but as fate surely intervened she fell headfirst into this least likely of musical genres.
It was perfectly natural that Angela Brown, who delighted friends with a gospel voice and sang in her grandfather’s choir by the age of 5, would veer towards a musical career. However, no one expected that career to be in opera, especially Ms. Brown herself. Growing up listening to the music of Luther Van Dross rather than Pavarotti and skeptical of what she deemed a Eurocentric genre, Angela Brown had to give herself permission before she could embrace her apparent gift. With a glowing smile, she tells students that it was then that she was finally on the path to “catching up with (her) vision.”
After studying with Romanian soprano Virginia Zeani, Angela Brown attended auditions for a young artists program held by the Metropolitan Opera National Council, and found herself in the midst of rival talent competing for 10 coveted spots. After falling short of the nation’s top ten for six years, Angela Brown finally triumphed in 1997 on what she called her “lucky seventh” try. Yet, it is apparent that Ms. Brown’s success is the product of her relentless persistence and faith. Undeterred by the disappointment of placing in the regional and district levels, Angela Brown knew that her turn had not yet come and she remained in the competition year after year until it did.
That sense of purpose and patience followed Angela Brown to New York City, where she slept on the floor of a Queens boardinghouse and raked its front yard, albeit, in four inch heels. Yet, her discomforts paid off when after covering for the role of Aida for several seasons she was given the part in 2004 to the acclaim of the New York Times whose headline read, “An Aida at Last.” Angela Brown continues to inspire audiences as the Verdi soprano that graces the stage of New York’s grand opera house.
With a younger generation of opera singers, some of whom are undoubtedly on their own paths toward realizing their visions, at her heel, Angela Brown recognizes that her musical career is not without an expiration date. Ms. Brown expresses a desire to one day expand her personal project “Opera from a Sister’s Point-of-View”, which demystifies the genre that had once intimidated her. With her down-to-earth sense of humor, Angela Brown jokes that she would also love a movie role as “somebody’s mama.” If that is the next phase of her vision, then audiences should soon expect to see Angela Brown in theaters.